Revelation
Chapter 21 Verse 1 (NIV)

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1 Then I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
Then I saw a NEW HEAVEN and a NEW EARTH,
From the rest of this chapter's descriptions of the NEW JERUSALEM, we
understand that this is "NEW" as in a "NEW" kind of HEAVEN and
EARTH. This "NEW" HEAVEN and EARTH are not tainted by evil (2
Peter 3:8-13-13). The NEW HEAVEN and NEW EARTH may not even obey
the current laws of physics. The theoretical physicist, Dirac, in 1928
proposed the existence of a positively charge particle, named positron,
which was the opposite of a negatively charge electron. In 1932,
Anderson experimentally observed the conversion of a photon into an
electron and a positron pair. In 1955, an antiproton was produced in
experiments with high-energy particles from accelerators. With
these experiments which showed the existence of "antimatter", one could
speculate all matter has an antimatter form, and that this antimatter
if collected into a region in the universe could make up antimatter
galaxies, for example. One should not go too much beyond this
"antimatter" thinking, however, as verse 17 points
out, we (and the angels) still are making measurements on a current
human scale.
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
As Isaiah
24:1-5-6 shows us, this first heaven and first earth are
polluted. They contained and were contaminated by evil. For this
reason, the first heaven and first earth had to flee away from a pure,
righteous God (Revelation 20:11).
and there is no longer ANY SEA.
The NEW EARTH will NOT have a SEA or place for evil to live. In an
interesting extension, this implies that the NEW HEAVEN and NEW EARTH
are not in our solar system. The Mars Rovers have proven that there
is/was
water on Mars, and water has been speculated for other moons orbiting
other planets. One concludes then that the last two chapters of
Revelation are almost entirely spiritual. However, since John SAW this
NEW HEAVEN and NEW EARTH, it must have some physical dimensions (see
verses 16, 18, and
21).
The sea is the first of the 7 things which will no longer exist. The
other six are: death, mourning, weeping, pain (Revelation
21:4), the curse (Revelation 22:3)
and night (Revelation 21:25; 22:5).
Often in our earlier discussions, we have pointed out that water is the
container of spirits. If one adds in the blood, we find that these
three, the Spirit and the water and the blood, bear witness to Jesus
Christ (1
John 5:6-11) and His ability to give us eternal life (or access to
this NEW HEAVEN and NEW EARTH). There are two kinds of water.
There is Good Water (Revelation 22:1) and
Evil Water (Revelation
12:10-17). Let's look at a few examples of the relationship
between water and spirit(s):
Example of
water and spirit relationship.
|
Kind of Water
|
References
|
At creation, the Spirit of God
was moving over the surface of the waters. Heaven is formed in the
expanse between the waters.
|
Good
|
Genesis
1:1-2,6-8
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The flood was appropriate to
harbor the spirits of the people who drowned.
|
Evil
|
Genesis
6:1-8, Genesis 8:13-19
|
Those who are anointed or chosen
of God are protected from coming into contact with water.
a) The chosen people leave Egypt through the Red Sea on
dry land; pursuing Egyptians drown.
b) The chosen people entering into the Promised Land
crossing the Jordan River.
c) Elijah and Elisha cross the parted Jordan River.
|
Evil
|
a) Exodus
14
b) Joshua
3:14-17
c) 2
Kings 2:1-14
|
Cast out demons request to go
into pigs. The pigs subsequently rush down a steep bank into the sea.
Sea now contains the cast out demons.
|
Evil
|
Mark
5:1-13-20
|
When an evil spirit leaves a
man, it must find water to rest/reside.
|
Evil
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Matthew
12:38-43-45
|
The dragon tries to drown the
woman's child.
|
Evil
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Revelation
12:10-17
|
The Sea Beast, one of the Unholy
Trinity, comes up out of the Sea.
|
Evil
|
Revelation
13:1-10
|
This is not an exhaustive list where water is referred to in spiritual
overtones. As you study the Word of God, you will find many references
to water and its uses in judgment. You also will find good water put to
use; although, those references are rarer.
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"Scripture taken
from the The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing
House. All rights reserved.
References to the Revelation of Jesus Christ are in bold
italics. All other references are in bold
only. Return from cross-references by using the BACK button.
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